Hello CALS,
Here we go into the week before Thanksgiving, and that always feels like a sort of segue into the holidays and the coming of the wonders of winter! Although if winter will hold off for a while longer, that’d be just fine.
I want to give a shout out to Carmen Bain for the incredible design “charrette” she put together with College of Design colleagues that took place over the weekend (see images below). The event fostered creative thinking among CALS and design students for the two rooms on the fourth floor of the Student Innovation Center that our college manages. The goal, with a significant gift from Farm Credit Services of America (FCSA), is to develop these rooms as interactive spaces that will foster innovation and learning. This work builds on efforts led by Steve Michaelson and a team prior to COVID. Carmen organized and carried out the weekend event with the help of 10 faculty and graduate students (CALS - Catherine Swoboda, Emily Zimmerman, Walter Suza, Jennifer Schieltz, Mike Martin, Claudia Lemper-Manahl; and COD - Yongyeon Cho, Paul Bruski, Michael Ford and Hailey McDermott), two deans, and a rep from FCSA (Travis Meisgeier, ag business alum). Eight teams with a total of 34 students from a combined 13 departments in CALS and COD participated in the event that went from 8 a.m. - 8 p.m. Saturday and 8 a.m. - 6 p.m. Sunday, and concluded with a review team panel recognizing the three top designs. The creativity was incredible. Watch for a special write up, social media posts and images of the activity and the outcomes.
A special shout out also goes to Marcy Cheville and the Student Services student workers - Lia Intini, Sydney Etten, Kalie Daniels and Marianna Chavez - who helped keep the student teams fed over the weekend.
I’ve written in the past few weeks, and we’ve held programming, too, on our collective efforts to pay attention to the stress and challenges that each other, faculty, staff and students, especially now when the levels of mental health and emotional challenge are seemingly greater and more common than ever. It's the stress of COVID plus so much more. Please keep an eye out for those around you that might be needing extra help, encouragement and empathy. Ask them, "How are you -- how are you really?"
Some of us will just need someone to say, "Hang in there," and others might need much more. Please suggest to the latter folks that they find some help, that they contact our students services office, call the Employee Assistance Program, or that they think about a check-in with their family, pastor or medical professional, etc. Be gentle, quiet, diplomatic and without presumption. Check out today's CALS Online newsletter for information about a "Surviving vs. Thriving - Am I Really OK" webinar being offered by our WorkLife team this Thursday.
Another idea to think about for yourself, and those around you, is to go get a bit of “awe.” Awe is a real emotion about something bigger than yourself. It's not the same as happy, joyous, satisfied or impressed. It has its own unique physiology. And there is the potential for awe all around us, whether it's looking into a microscope and seeing something incredible, or star gazing and feeling the vastness of the universe, or how a flower or the behavior of an animal can fill us with amazement. You can deliberately go out and get some awe and feel better and renewed because of it. It will not make the troubles of the world go away, but it does have the power to help with a reboot, almost as often as you want one!
So with that – wishing you all an awe-filled holiday season as we roll towards it! My best - Dan
